THE COOKBOOK PROJECT!

Here’s where I explain what this whole site is about. Settle in–there’s a bit of a story involved.

When I was a small child in the late 80s-early 90s just learning to cook, my mother gifted me with a set of subscription-based cookbooks called Simply Delicious. The set I currently have consisted of three “volumes” (although I’ve been told there are more cards/volumes out there–I don’t doubt it), and I believe I have a good amount of the cards that were produced. She (my mom) claims she gave up near the end. Thanks, mom.

Many of the cards have her notations on them, as well as mine. I come from a long line of cooks and restaurateurs, and we take our cookbooks seriously when we find good ones. They’re my go-to books for basic techniques, dinner parties, and just about any instance where you need easy, clear, traditional recipes. 📜

I’ve had these books for almost 30 years now, and they’ve been carted across state lines several times, existed in every kitchen I’ve ever had, and have generally just gotten really beaten up. They were even temporarily inhabited by roaches once when I lived in a really terrible apartment in the San Fernando Valley after moving back home to LA post-college graduation. 😱

I successfully evicted the roaches long ago, but the books aren’t exactly in the best shape. However, I still love them and haven’t been able to part with them, despite the roach residue that still coats the edges and corners. 💩

Given their present condition, I feel it’s time to scan them and retire the physical books themselves. Taking into account the current navel-gazing inclinations of our culture, I have decided to blog-while-doing, writing and cooking my way through the books as I scan them. I’ve cooked many of these recipes in the past, but I’ve never done the whole thing. 🏆

I call this giant time-suck: The Cookbook Project. It’s not original in any way. But considering there’s very little that I can find about these books out on the internet, I figure, what the hell.

Dive in, and enter the fanciful world of 1980s recipes-by-mail. I promise, most of the recipes are actually pretty good. You might even say they’re…..simply delicious.